Today is the best day of this week because my wife returns from two week business trip to Shanghai, China - we get to pick her up at RSW airport tonight. Hurray!

Before getting in the water, I had planned to do some basic early season intervals: 400 cruise on 5min, 4x50s on :45 @33-34 pace, 2x100 on 1:30 @ 1:07-08 pace, 1x200 on 3:00 @ 2:16-18 pace, perhaps 3-4 rounds continuous.

During the warmup - I felt like trash. The week of swim workouts along with wk #1 of weights & core work at night had taken more of a toll than expected. I will have to work up to it again, like I did last spring. Really - what was I thinking...

Set 1: A basic cruise doing the best form and technique possible in a tired state. My coach said it would be good for me, so I did it.

Set 2: A break from Freestyle

Set 3: A broken version of Set 1, but to make sure there was sufficient recovery for maximum stroke focus.

Set 4: This was actually fun. I like swimming with paddles (medium size, just slightly larger than hands) because it helps my feel of the water, reinforces stroke technique, and it is always good to swim faster, even with a little help.